I first saw this Miku on Foo-Bar-Baz last December, at the time, I had no idea who she was or what the figure was about. All I knew was that I thought the figure looked pretty cool to have a “framed” display base that can be mounted on the wall. I haven’t started collecting figures yet at the time either, so I had zero clue about where she was from, who she was made by and where to get her. I just looked at the photos and thought, “that’s cool” and pointed it out to my wife who agreed with me (for once).
Fast forward a few weeks, I started collecting figures and started to familiarize myself with all the different companies and the culture. Well, lo and behold, I came across this Miku while randomly browsing eBay so I quickly snatched it up. I could’ve got it from HLJ, HobbyFan, TLC, etc. but since I was getting something from the same seller on eBay, I got this Miku at the same time (at the normal price).
This Miku is based upon a user illustration of the World is Mine song by supercell. I’ve never heard the song before (hell, I haven’t really heard any Miku songs before), so I thought I’d check it out while writing up this review. The song’s alright, but I’m not really into Japanime type music anymore so it doesn’t really do anything for me. I thought Miku’s voice was too pitchy for my taste – but I still like Miku’s character design.
Miku’s appearance portrayed here is quite different from the usual “concert outfit” Miku, the face, body structure and hair are also a little different – but you can still look at this figure and know it’s Miku. The general vibe I get from this Miku is somewhat gothic. Her hair, long black stockings and hair ribbons have this slightly dark feeling to it. Her pose also looks a little devious and sinister from certain angles, a lot like Mr. Burns (The Simpsons). Eeeeeeeeeexcellent. I do like this design and had a lot of fun taking her pictures under different lighting.
Her hand sculpt seems a little weird to me, especially her left hand. The hand looks unusually long to me, reminiscent of E.T.?! The ribbon/string thing on her shirt is painted cleanly on this figure with barely no overlap with the white. With such high contrast, any overlap in paint here would’ve ruined the figure completely, especially it’s the central part of the figure where your eyes will easily focus on. Well, that’s my opinion anyway and luckily for me my Miku was saved from this horrible abomination.
The bracelet, however, isn’t finished as well as other parts of the figure. The paint application here seem like a blob of black paint with a few coloured dots then a layer of massive gloss coating. But at least this isn’t as noticeable and doesn’t detract attention away from the figure as a whole.
One other aspect I like about this figure is the fact different finishes were used on the figure. There are gloss and matte coatings, depending on the “material” Miku’s wearing. Her one-piece dress, for example, is in a matte finish which looks more fabric like than her headphones, bracelet, stockings, etc. I’m not sure why stockings would be glossy though, but it does provide a nice contrast. On my figure, there’s a slight mold line on the left of the figure (right side if you’re looking straight at her), I’m not sure if it’s like this on others, but I assume it is. It’s not that as obvious when looking at it with the naked eye though.
I’m sorry to report, if you’re a pantsu fan, that her underwear is plain white. Yup, that’s right, no stripes! But at least there are some wrinkles and “stitch” lines, right? So all’s not lost for you! 
Now, there seemed to be some controversy with the quality control of this figure. There are reports on MFC that some people have been getting this Miku with sub-par finish and bad quality finish. Reports ranges from mis-painted petals, mis-painted hair ribbons, scratches on the figure, scratches on the base, poor paint quality and badly constructed headphone. I really wouldn’t have known about these issues had I not been keeping track of GSC’s recent release of Canaan where people were talking about quality issues with their WIM Miku. There was quite an uproar about the finished quality of that figure and many were upset with GSC’s lack of quality control from one figure to another. But I’ll get into this more when I do my Canaan review. On my Miku, the one obvious flaw I can see is the headphone, it appears who ever put it together used too much glue, so there’s a blob of dried glue on headphone. I haven’t tried removing this yet, as it doesn’t bother me all that much as it’s not obvious – but I’ll probably give it a try when I have room to put this figure out for display.
My base is fairly clean without scratches or damages. The World is Mine text is clear and the petals are painted alright. I haven’t seen the pre-production sample so I can’t really compare, but I’m guessing the petals on that were painted with more care and probably done one by one unlike this mass production version. I really don’t have any complaints with this base / frame though as when you look at the whole package from a normal viewing distance you won’t notice these little details.
I have to say, this is one of my favourites in my collection and one of the figures that caught my attention before even getting into this hobby. And as I’ve said, this Miku was great to take photos of, you can take it from just about any angle and lighting and get some sort of emotional response. Even with the issues some people were reporting, I dont think that should deter anyone from getting this figure as it’s definitely one unique Miku!
Hahahaha, I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw an old balding millionaire in this figure. I’m loving your darker, more sinister-looking shots — who knew that Mr. Burns’ devious look could work so well on Miku?
Glad it the sinister shots worked out, too bad I don’t have a Mr. Burns figure to put beside her. LOL Gotta try to find one now. I love this Miku for the fact that she looks really unique.
Nice review VF! I love this Miku, she’s got the best feel to her than the rest. Like she’s done work, she’s relaxing at home, perhaps just listened to some great tunes on the headphones, I stroll in after work and she’s teasing me as I pass the bed. Ok ok.. enough of that.
The problems on my Miku are all paint related if I recall correctly. The base has a few paint marks all over it, the petals are pretty messy, and in her hair there’s some issues as well. But overall she’s one of my favourite figures.
I do wonder what her thighhighs would have looked like in matte black though. I’ve never been a fan of the gloss, but perhaps I wouldn’t have liked the matte either.
Bit of criticism on your shots if I may! The monotone shots really lose the feel of Miku. Her hair and eye colour are really the only colours on her, and by removing them she doesn’t feel like Miku. That said, it does create a great contrast between the blacks and white around her zettai ryouiki as her aqua/green hair doesn’t distract ones attention.
I’ve been sitting on my Miku for months because I can’t think of a creative way to shoot her. I’ve got a ~100-150 shots of her but never really liked the way they came out. So good work!
Yeah, I can totally see that, especially with her legs in that position. I wonder what she’d look like with matte stockings, but I guess that would make the figure a little dull.
It’s a little disappointing to see so many people have some sort of quality control issue with this figure, lucky I wasn’t aware of this when I got this figure, otherwise I would’ve been paranoid about getting one. That said, I’m a little relieved to have one without so many obvious flaws.
As for the monotone pictures, I see what you’re saying about losing that Miku feel and I agree. I was playing around with the Pictures Styles on the camera and thought I gave this purple monotone style a try. I thought it fit well with that “I’m going to take over the world” type of feeling.
I scratch my head all the time wondering how I should take the figure pictures, I’m running out of ideas. lol
I really like World is Mine chara design. She is really cute, and sexy. Sadly, there are many problem on copies. A friend don’t have the “World is Mine Supercell” on his base.. But mine is great, no problem ^^ I prefer this version at Black Rock Shooter ^^ Thanks a lot for the review !
I find this figure a little seductive, albeit mildly, but seductive nevertheless. It’s a great take on the character. It’s a shame that you friend doesn’t have the text on his base, it’s so odd that something so obvious would be left out. Someone at the factory must’ve fell asleep during the assembly line.
I like all the “adult” takes on Miku that are popping up … big-eyed cute Miku is aight, but this one and the Max Factory VN02 and the other one that got shown off a few days ago all look great in my view. I’m hoping that GSC and Max Factory extend this look to figures outside of the Vocaloid lineup since I’m not really the biggest fan of Miku or the other characters.
I don’t really like the picture frame gimmick on this figure, though. Yeah, I guess it works okay for this figure since she’s lying down and there aren’t too many ways you can present that, but I don’t really like figures that are lying down, either. If I get a figure of a girl on her back, it’s going to be a much, much, much more perverted figure than Miku here.
I’ve seen at least a half dozen reviews of this figure and I’ve never noticed her hands. Man, picture 07 really shows them off, huh? I can’t stop looking at them now; scrolling through your photos, every picture I see, the first thing I look at is her hands XD
Nice Review she is indeed beautiful, nicely done…
D: i need to get mine…
I prefer the brown border than the light one. suits better.
Thx for the nice review, I really like this figure